Judaism Destroyed
“In that he saith, A new
covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is
ready to vanish away.” Hebrews
8:13
This is
one of the most important, but least understood texts in the Book of Hebrews.
When he established the new covenant, the Lord God made the old, Levitical,
legal, ceremonial covenant obsolete. It served its day and its purpose by the
will of God; but that old covenant and all that pertained to it is now
dissolved. It is no longer of any use to anyone for any purpose. Like an old,
tattered garment, it has been laid aside, never to be used again (Gal. 5:1-6).
Spiritual
Worship
All true
worship is spiritual, heart worship. We are no longer under the law. We no
longer live under that carnal, legal covenant (Col. 2:6-23; Phil. 3:3). All who
know God worship him in spirit and in truth, trusting Christ alone for
righteousness, and place no confidence in the flesh.
The Destruction Of The Old
The coming of Christ, the coming of the Messiah, meant the dissolution of Judaism. Hebrews 8:13 was more than a prediction. It was an inspired prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple at Jerusalem, and of Judaism. For those people whose entire way of life was defined by this first covenant, this prophecy must have been shocking, at the very least. The Jews understood exactly what the claims of Christ meant. I do not suggest that they believed him. Obviously, they did not. But they understood that his claims and his doctrine meant the complete dissolution of Judaism (John 8:59; 10:30-34; 11:47-54).
In the
Old Testament God commanded the Jews to maintain an elaborate system of
sacrifices, priestly services, feasts and rituals and required them to live
under a rigid legal system, a system of law that covered every aspect of their
lives (political, religious, moral, and dietary). That entire legal system
pointed to and typified the Lord Jesus Christ and the work he would perform for
the redemption of his people. These things typically, symbolically, and ceremonially
defined the gospel and pointed to One by whose coming they must and would be
fulfilled.
The
gospel of Christ threatened the very core of Jewish life and religion. By
declaring that the Messiah had come, that he is the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, who
is God the Son, declared Judaism null and void. The vast majority of the people
rejected his claim and despised him, his gospel and his people. That hatred of
God resulted in the crucifixion of the Lord of Glory and the persecution of his
disciples.
The
claims of the Christ raised a huge question for the Jewish people as a whole.
What would become of their way of life? This new faith was incredibly radical.
For example, in Acts 6 Stephen proved, irresistibly, by Scripture and history,
that the claims of Christ were true, and thus, that the gospel of Christ is
true. To stop him, false witnesses were brought in. And what is their charge?
They claimed that Stephen spoke against Jerusalem, the temple, and the law
(Acts 6:13-14).
The
Threat of Christianity
There you
have the meaning of Christianity, as far as the Jews were concerned. It meant
the destruction of their “church,” indeed, of their entire way of life, the vanishing
away of the first covenant. They sensed it keenly. When Stephen, as they
perceived his words, spoke against Jerusalem and the law; they believed that
Christianity threatened the existence of the temple itself and of Judaism; and
it did. If the temple fell, then what would become of all the customs and
traditions they cherished? What would become their religion? It had to be
utterly annihilated. The old had to vanish if it were to be replaced by the
new. Few today seem to understand this; but the Jews of that day understood it
clearly. Therefore they stoned Stephen to death. They had reason to be afraid.
Not only had the Lord Jesus actually said that the temple would be destroyed,
he had predicted the entire destruction of Jerusalem (Luke 19:43-44).
The
Cause of Persecution
Nothing
stirs up violence like fear; and the Jews, despising the Word of God, refusing
to submit to the righteousness of God in Christ, clinging tenaciously to their
legal religion, ritualism, and personal righteousness, had reason to fear
Christ, his followers, and the gospel we preach, as do all man-centered systems
of free-will, works religion today.
Though
the followers of Christ are meek and peaceful people, people who would rather
die than live by the sword, nevertheless at the very heart of our faith is the
implicit end of the Jewish way of life, and of all other systems of works
religion. Nothing enrages legalists like a threat to their refuge of lies and
the denial of their personal righteousness. It was this perceived (and very
real) threat that provoked the Jews to crucify the Lord Jesus Christ and persecute
his church mercilessly. And it is this threat that stirs the fears of religious
people to this day, enrages them, and inspires the persecution of God’s church
in every community where the gospel of God’s free grace in Christ is preached.
The
problem is not that men and women do not understand what we preach. The problem
is that they do. They understand that to embrace the gospel, they must count
all their former religion dung. They understand that if they embrace the grace
of God, they must repent of their dead works, turning from all their efforts to
establish their own righteousness. They understand that if they trust Christ,
they must cease to trust themselves.
Just as
the Jews’ priesthood, animal sacrifices, carnal ordinances, legal hopes, and
temple were utterly abolished by Christ, so when Christ comes in saving power
into the hearts of chosen sinners, all their former way of life, all their
former hopes is utterly abolished, never to rise again.